Refrigerating device



June'16,l925.

Y R; B. MussER REFRIGERATING DEVICE Filed June C59. 1921 2 Sheets-Sheet l Snowdon Robe/ .f3/ace Mass er 53 ttoznm June 16, 1925.

R. B. MUSSER REFRIGERATI-NG DEVICE 2 Sheets-Sheet Y2 Filed June 559 1921 Wy. f

ve///z/ce /Vussef stood that some Patented June 16, 1925-.

UNITEDSTATES PATENT OFFICE.,

ROBERT BRUCE mussen, or SEATTLE, wAsmeToN.

marenaarmc nnvrcr.

Application 'filed .Tune 30,

To all whom t may concern.:

Be it known that I, ROBERT BRUCE Mussnn, a citizen of the United States, residing at Seattle, in the county of King and State of VVashingtomhave invented certain new and useful Refrigeratin Devices, of which the following is a specilication.

y invention relates erating devices. More particularly, vmywinf vention relates to a refri erating device which' yutilizes a refri eratlng fluid as a brine to cool the air of tie refrigerator room or compartment. v

ile my invention will be described particularly as applied `to refrigeration in a meat packing plant, it is to be understood that the same is not to be-limited to any such specific use.

As heretofore designed, the refrigerating means has failed to produce an active, positive circulation of air, and failed to provide for the eiiicient removal of moisture arising from steaming meat freshly supplied to the room, or moisture otherwise present, with the result that t-he ceiling and walls of such refrigeratin rooms are constantly coated with large (lli'ops of moisture which may or may not freeze, depending upon the purpose of the particular room--it being underof the refrigerating rooms below the freezing point not. Such water thus falls If said drops of water freeze are maintained while othersA are upon the meat.

, upon said walls, then we have a constantly increasing coating of ice, which must be removed from time to time. The pipes in either case become coated with ice due to the moisture deposited upon them.

The failure to provide for removing the moisture from the air of the refrigerating room constitutes a constant danger to health, because the employees, when acclimated`to summer temperature, must, during the hours of employment, enter and remain in thecold, damp air of such rooms for periods of considerable duration. This applies to `a large per cent of the employees of a meat packing plant. The cold, damp air of such rooms renders it impossible for any except the most ardy employees to perform the necessary work of hanging up, sorting, taking stock, changing the pickle, and arranging of the meats in such rooms during the c illing, curi and freezing processes.

t uch great moisture in the air of rooms defeats,

`such to a great extent, the very to the art of refrigloft being 1921. seri-a1 No. 481,456.

purpose of such refrigeratng rooms in that meats do not keep well in molsture-laden air, and many articles of produce absolutelyprequire a dry air. The meat becomes slimy in such moisture-laden air, and so pronounced is this that in the case of some meats the slime appears in twenty-four hours.

Furthermore, the more efficient modern means of refrigerating requirel many hundreds of feet of piping about the refrigerating room or' compartment, and hence are' very expensive. Such piping involves much waste of space and is otherwlse inconvenient. Besides this piping means of employing the refrigerating fluid, another,` means is to use the open brine system. This involves constructlng the refrigerating room two stories high, and the fluid is caused to fall as a shower in the upper half of such double room. The fluid falls upon a collecting ioor which forms the ceiling of the lower half of said room-said floor extending only part wayacross the room so that openings are provided at both sides of the said ceiling to permit the cooled air to descendon one side of theroom and warm air to rise on the other. j. Such means obviously is objection-` able in wasting space (extra loft being requisite) and the very cold floor of this the ceiling of the lower half, which is the only part available for refrigerating, is always very heavily coated with water, since said floor ceiling is located to best advantage 'to condense the moisture in the air of the refrigerating part of the rbom. Heavily insulating said floor-ceiling has been of no avail in overcoming this condensation of the moisture.

In general, the objects of my invention are to overcome the above objections to such refrigerating means. More particularly, .the objects of my invention are: refrigerating device greatl more eiicient and sanitary than the meansberetofore used; to provide for a refrigerating device which causes a positive Aand forced circulation of air; to provide such a device which will" To provide a f being merely a preferred exemplary form of embodiment of my invention, throughout.

which drawings like reference numera s indicate like parts:

Figure 1 is a side view of a device embodymg my invention, said device being shown partly in section and part broken away; v

Fig. 2 is a view in section on broken line 2, 2 of Figure 1;

Fig. 3 isa view of the open trough cover;

Fig. 4 is a view in transverse section of the1 cylinder on broken lines 4, 4 of Fig. 2; an

Fig. 5 is a sectional view of a refrigerating room partition provided with my invention having a deiector so that the cold air mag be deflected into either room.

cylinder 6, preferably of thin sheet metal, is disposed verticallyl with open ends 7 and 8. One or more of t ese cylinders, as the size of the room may require, are disposed along one side only of the refrigerating room, preferably between the studding 9 so that no loss of space is incurred. For a room 30. ft. long by 12 ft. wide and 9 ft. high,` in general, I find three such cylinders to be more than ample for maintaining a.

temperature of 38. A pipe 10 connected to a'source of refrigerating iiuid, such as brine, extends along the top of the cylinders 6 near the ceiling, and the fluid in said pipe is jetted into the upper end portion of said cylinders through nozzles 11. The fluid is sprayed out in a thin sheet form so that a jet is formed that drives the air in said cylinder downwardly, said fluid, being held by the force ofadhesion, clings tothe walls of said cylinder for the -most part throughout its descent.

At the bottom of the said cylinder is the trough 12, preferably having the removable cover 13, said cover being provided with the slot 14. Such cover guards against lashing of the brine, and permits the free ischarge of the cold air through the slot 14. A board wall 15 having perforations 16 and removable panels 17, may be provided to extend halfway up the room as a guard to the said cylinders.

The deflector 18 is preferably provided to deflect the cold air downwardly towards the ioor, so that it is obliged to travel the greatest distance possible in reaching the ceiling, and hence erform most fully its function of cooling t e air.

In Fig. 5 a partition of a refrigerating room is shown in cross section with a device embodying my invention wherein is provided an adjustable deflector 19 so that the cold air may be defiected into the room on,

either side of said partition, or into both rooms lsimultaneously--t'he wall 15 herein being shown as extending nearly to the celing. The providing of this wall 15, as well as the extent-v-it is to extend to the ceilingis optional.

A valve 20 controls the flow of the refrigerating fluid to the pipe 10, and pipe 21 serves to draw olf the fluid from the trough The mode ofl operation of my invention is as follows:

The refrigerating fiuid, such as brine, is rendered cold by any of the methods wellknown to those acquainted with the art, and is conducted in the pipe 10 to the room or compartment to be refrigerated. In such room said pipe being disposed near the ceiling, the refrigerating fluid is jetted forcibly from the nozzle 11 against lthe wall of the cylinder. The sheet of Huid formed by the brine constitutes, as it were, a jet, which drives the air downwardly out of the cylinder and ejects said air from the lower end of the cylinder' that is, close to the floor so that as said cold air absorbs heat, it gradually rises, being forcibly displaced upwardly by the ensuing still colder airit, of course, being well-known that the cold air occupies the lowermost parts of the room While the warmer air takes its position near the ceiling.

The refrigerating fluid must be jetted against the side walls, s o that said fluid forms as nearly a complete envelope across the cylinder as possible, in order that the warmer air drawn in may be caused to pass down practically the full length of cylinder 6. By experiment it has been found that the cone of liuid formed by the spra leave the nozzle at approximately the angle of forty-live degrees to the horizontal. This has been found to produce mosl efficient operation ofthe refrigerating fluid in4 extracting the heat from the air entrapped. The said air is not only thus forced down the cylinder by means of the jetting or piston-like action of the fluid, but said air is exposed to the refrigerating effect of the said fluid spread out in a continuous sheet over the wall of the cylinder, and hence its precipitation downwardly is augmented by being rendered very cold. In this wise, my invention provides for the co-operation of two forces to induce the downwardly directed current of air in the cylinders, namely, the force of the jetting or piston-like action of the fluid, and the cooling of the air. In this manner, a very strong current downwardly is provided, which keeps all the air of the room or compartment in a state of continuous motion or circulation. lIt is clear that the forcenof the circulation ma be regulated by changing the pressure o the fluid being jetted. In this manner and by the number of cylinders installed, the deshould that periodically such surplus water must be evaporated, or, in the case of brine, more salt added to maintain the strength or density of said brine.' It is to be understood that the continuous introduction of freshly slaughteredl meat or cooked meats adds a great deal of moisture to theI air of the room, and the same is clearly visible-as it rises in the form of steam, and obli ues directly to the upper end of said cylin ers 6. Also, such moisture interferes seriously with the evenness of the temperature of the room. 'The entrap ing and passing of the air by the jetted fluid and the setting of said air into a whirling motion as it comes into contact with the falling fluid walls on the inside of the c linder during the descent therethrough w moves its impurities much as washed in Ventilating systems.

This washing of andthe aforementioned the air lis removalof the objectionable moisture from the air produces a most sanitary and a very cold, dry air for refrigeration. The reason for the eat efficiency of such refrigerating mechanlsm is now manifest. The rapid circulation' of the air and the constant removal of the objectionable moisture gives a more uniform temperatur? throug out the room. A" given quantity o fluid 1s utilized to the greatest advantage,

' in that it is first made lto induce a strong,

positive circulation of the airof the room or compartment, and in so doing, said refrigeratln fluid is disposed in such a form as to` ma e its cooling pro erties most effective-that. is, it is cause to line in a thin sheet the cylinder 6, or the fluid may be considered as forming a cylinder in Icylinder 6, whose walls are formed of iiuid, and are continuously falling, so that new contact with and violent 'tation of the air in the cylinder 6 is ro uced. The quantity of refrigerating uid represented by thirtyl lineal feet of pipe utilized in connection with my invention has been found to perform a refrigerating service greatly in excessI of that supplied by that quantity of `Such fluid confined in a thousand feet of pipe-when utilized as commonly heretofore desi ed.

A l such eiliciency and the elimination of the great quantities of piping clearly and for manifest reasons provide for a most economical refrigerating device. Instead of es it thoroughly and re` maintaining a very low temperature in a mass of air bounded by the room or com` partment, my invention a small quantity of lui a rapid circulation of the rovides f or using plplng, lnducing air in the refrigfrom and washing sai air.

The cylinder 6 of my invention may be disposed between the post or studding of a partition without the loss of any working space, and the cold air deflected alternately or simultaneously into the refrigerator room on either side by the adjustable deflector 19. The efficiency of my invention renders it peculiarly applicableto window refrigerating compartments now commonly-located in the fronts 'of restaurants and meat markets.

Obviously, changes may be made in the forms, dimensions, and arrangement of the parts of my invention, without departing from the principle thereof, the above setig forth only va preferred form of emiment.

I claim: l 1. A refrigerating device embod ing 'a compartment; one or more vertica y disposed cylinders therein, extending rom near the ceiling of said compartment to near the ilioor thereof; a nozzle axially di osed in the u per endportion of said cyhnder;'a troug disposed beneath the lower end portion of sai cylinder.; a pipe connecting said nozzle with a source of refrigerating fluid; a second pipe connecting said trou h with said source of refrigerating f fluid; and means whereby said fluid may be 'etted from said nozzle against the walls o said cylinder, whereby the air from the upper portion of said compartment may be forced downwardly, Vby means of said jet action .and by reason of the weight of the cooled air through said cylinder and eected fromV the lower end portion of said cylinder.

2. In combination with a refrigeratin device embod ing a compartment; a verticall disposed7 cylinder open at both'ends, saidy cylinder extending nearly to the to and bottom. of said compartment; a nozz e verating room, removin the moisture thereaxially disposed in the uplper end portion of said cylinder; and a co ecting means at the bottom of said cylinder, whereby a refrigerating fluid may be jettd from Said. nozzle against the inner walls of said cylinder andcollected in said collecting means.

3. A refrigerating device embodying a compartment divided into two sections by a partition; oneor more vertically disposed cylinders in the partition between said compartments, said cylinders extending from near the ceiling of said compartment to near the floor thereof; a nozzle axially dispose' d in the u nper end portion of said cylin er; a trough posed beneath the lower end portion of said cylinder; a pipe connecting said nozzle with a source of refrigerating fluid; a second pipe connecting said trough With said source of refrigerating fluid; means whereby said fluid may be jetted from said nozzle against the walls of said cylinder, whereby the air from the upper portion of either of said compartments may be forced' downwardly, by means of said jet action kROBERT BRUCE MUSSER. 

